Author: Emma Watts-Plumpkin

The Greeks called them Scythians, the Assyrians and Achaemenid Persians called them Saka. We know them only through their lavish funeral remains. Ahead of a major exhibition at the British Museum, St John Simpson unravels the fascinating story of this mysterious people.

Searching for Samnites in the ‘Region of Little Cities’ Surprisingly few people have heard of Molise. Yet this is one of the most beautiful and the most historically engaging areas of Italy. Emerging from the road-tunnel that leads into the region, you get the impression you are entering a forgotten world – and in […]

What is it? This enigmatic fired-clay disc, dating to around 1700-1600 BC, was discovered in the palace of Phaistos on the Greek island of Crete. It is 16.5cm in diameter, 2.1cm thick, and its two faces bear 45 different pictographic signs – a total of 241 symbols – spiralling from the edge to the centre […]

Mleiha: The Unwritten History
The Ancient State of Puyŏ in Northeast Asia
Age of Empires: Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties
A History of Syria in One Hundred Sites
The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity

The first anyone knew of the Scythians was when exquisite gold ornaments started to turn up around the Black Sea region in the 18th century. Our knowledge of these forgotten nomads has grown significantly in the last few decades, and here, ahead of a major exhibition at the British Museum, we reveal the latest on […]

The exotic Lady of Pacopampa and the recently discovered Serpent-Jaguar Priests were high ranking members of the Pacopampa ceremonial complex in the northern highlands of Peru. They were buried with luxury grave goods during highly ritualistic ceremonies, in prominent locations that ensured they would be remembered and revered long after death. These amazing finds, however, […]

A Roman retreat Eighteen Roman emperors came from Serbia – more than anywhere else outside Italy. One of them was Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus Augustus (AD 293-311). Standing in the splendid ruins of his palace at Gamzigrad-Felix Romuliana in eastern Serbia, in the remote lush countryside, I could not help feeling sorry for Galerius. Though […]

Below are all the past issues of Current World Archaeology. We still have the majority of magazines in stock – if you would like to purchase any back issues, please click here. 2018 87 2017 86 85 84 83 82 81 2016 80 79 78 77 76 75 2015 74 73 72 71 70 69 2014 […]

The lost Egyptian cities of Thonis and Heracleion appear in the historical record but their whereabouts were long forgotten since disappearing beneath the waters of the Mediterranean 1,200 years ago. In fact, Thonis and Heracleion are the Egyptian and Greek names for the same city port that flourished for centuries at the mouth of the […]